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The Society’s statement in response to planning application - 14/00998/F St Mary’s Hospital Upper Byron Place Bristol BS8 1JU Conversion of the hospital building, demolition of the boiler house and other ancillary buildings, redevelopment to provide 200 bedrooms of student residential accommodation April 2014
Introduction The Society participated in pre-application discussion and responded to the two earlier planning applications 13/02699/F and 13/02357/F. The Society supported the principle of development but objected to the mass and other aspects of those schemes’ designs. The grounds upon which the Council refused those applications included the Society’s objections. The Society supports the Council’s response to Student Castle’s appeal against the planning refusal. The Society supports the current proposal. It has objections to the mass and design of Block C. The Society’s objections have a positive purpose; it intends them to improve the scheme. Change of use The Society accepts that the building has no economic future in its current form. The Society supports the principle of conversion to student accommodation, which would bring the site back into economic use. Demolition The Society’s supports Student Castle’s proposal to retain the Italianate western façade of Block A. The Society has no objection to the proposed demolitions.
Height scale and mass Block A - The Society finds the reduced height scale and mass of acceptable.
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Block B – From the point of view of conservation and the public realm, the Society finds Block B acceptable although it recognises that local residents may object. The Society leaves this issue to the Council to determine in accordance with usual planning standards. Block C – The Society cannot support the mass of this block – see below.
Design Block A – The Society accepts the proposal to demolish the existing sun rooms and to extend the block to the south. The Society has not seen the details of the proposed alterations. The Society draws the Planning Officer’s attention to the need for any alterations to the existing parapet to be compatible with the proportions and the details of the retained elevation. Although the details of the south addition will be a different aesthetic, their quality must also be comparable to that of the retained fabric. The Society objects to the addition, at the ground floor, to the north end of Block A, which would conceal the rusticated piantereno and conceal the end of the building of merit. The Lodge – there is an opportunity for a conservation gain, at little cost, to replace the plastic windows and front door in this attractive building. Block B – The Society has no comment to make. Block C - Key question – is the design appropriate for this location? The Society continues to object to the street elevation of this building. Planning Policy Policy BCS22 - Conservation and the Historic Environment – follows the principles stated in the National Planning Policy Framework. The aim of the policy is to ensure that all new development safeguards or enhances heritage assets and the character and setting of areas of acknowledged importance, which includes historic parks and gardens both nationally and locally listed. The Society quotes the following passages to support its objections from the Council’s Planning Advice Note 15 - ‘Responding to local character’: “Identify important local contextual characteristics which the scale of the development will affect. In a city such as Bristol, which is characterised in many places by its steeply sloping hillsides, it is important that the local topography of any site is recognised and respected in the formulation of a development proposal. The creation of successful urban environments and quality streetscapes is often dependent upon the way in which buildings, ………… define the perimeters of streets, alleys and ……….. The height, scale and massing of buildings should relate to the type and size of space with which they are associated to ensure a satisfactory form of enclosure. If modern buildings are to be successfully incorporated into an historic city
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such as Bristol they should respect the traditional building lines, established layout and plot sizes of the area.” The Park Street and Brandon Hill Conservation Area Character Appraisal described the local contextual characteristics of Upper Byron Place. “6.1.11 ……………Other intimate routes are backland mews-like areas of (e.g Upper Byron Place), which have a subsidiary scale and character. The Bristol Nuffield Hospital has blighted the mews-like character on the west side of Upper Byron Place, making the relative small scale and modest character of buildings on the east more critical. 6.1.12 Brandon Hill functions as the largest open space and most dominant topographical feature, both in the Conservation Area and in the wider city context. This historic park, probably the oldest public park in the country, is protected by Policy NE9 of the adopted Bristol Local Plan, and will continue to be protected in the emerging Bristol Development Framework.” The Society has two objections The important local contextual character, which the development will affect The Upper Byron Place lane is an important heritage asset. Its characteristic is that it links the intensely urbanised area of Queen’s Road to the popular public open green space of Brandon Hill. The Upper Byron Place lane reflects the historic development of the area; it remains a strong reminder of the period before the current urbanisation. It has unmistakable landscape qualities. The oversized floor plates that articulate the street elevation. There are several local examples of traditional terraces that demonstrate how to build on a hill. One example is as close as Upper Berkeley Place where each house steps down the hillside. They reflect the contour. The three blocks that together create the Upper Byron Place lane elevation of Block C are over-sized and awkward. The internal arrangements of Block C determine the size of these floor plates. The large floor plates elevate the northern end of each of the three constituent blocks above the level that the block would have attained had the design taken shorter steps down the falling contour. The consequence is that Block C dominates the modest character of the Upper Byron Place lane. By way of contrast, the fall between the floor plates of the Upper Berkeley Pace houses respect the topography of the street. Block C fails to recognise sufficiently the steep fall of the site. It makes the mistakes against which PAN15 advises. The height and mass of the wall that rises from the back of the pavement. Upper Byron Place has no pavement; it is the width of a lane. Its purpose was to serve as a rear entrance to houses in Berkeley Square. It probably followed a former public footpath to Brandon Hill. The context that should inform Block C’s design is an informal, ‘back lane’ that leads to Brandon Hill. To the east side of the Upper Byron Place lane stand small scale modest buildings in keeping with the character of the lane.
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It is instructive to compare the existing hospital buildings that enclose the west side of the Upper Byron Place lane with Block C that Student Castle propose should replace them. The lower buildings at the north end of the lane stand behind a traditional, rubble wall. To their south, built to the edge of the lane, there is a two storey hospital building. The most southerly building is three stories but there is open space between the three floor building and the lane. Student Castle proposes to enclose the west side of the Upper Byron Place lane with a continuous wall, three floors high. The character of the context of the Upper Byron Place lane plainly does not inform the design of Block C. The Upper Byron Place lane would become heavily urbanised and would cease to be an intimate backland approach to a popular green space. The current design of Block C would increase the blight created by the Bristol Nuffield Hospital and cause substantial harm to the conservation area. It would have a negative impact on the conservation area. The negative feature of Block C would outweigh the limited public benefit that a private student accommodation scheme could deliver. The development would be contrary to policy. There are no material considerations to outweigh the significant harm to the conservation area. If Student Castle is unprepared to modify Block C, the Council should refuse this planning application. Could Block C be modified to comply with planning policy? The Society emphasises that it takes a commercial view of development. It believes that Block C could both accommodate the proposed number of student units and enhance Upper Byron Place. Floor plates the width of two student units could create an elevation that would adjust naturally to the falling contour. There will be architectural solutions to give access to the individual units in a block with shorter floor plates. The Society would accept Block C’s three floors if the design mitigates the top floor’s effect. This could take either the form of a set back or the outline of a mansard. Landscape The refuse store could be an unfortunately sited focal point. Could the store’s site create or define an external space to advantage of both landscape and function? The loss of the current sterile tarmac car park is a potential planning gain but the extent of the improvement depends upon the degree of use by parked vehicles. Could more use be made of the west facing garden with its outstanding views? During construction, Student Castle will review the state of repair of the curtilage wall, which will give it an opportunity to restore, at no additional cost, such features as the gothic garden gate that leads to Brandon Hill.
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